Both David Toscano and Susan Payne have announced that they are not running for the 25th District Senate elections. In an interview with the Progress, City Councilor David Toscano said that he wants to spend time with his four-year-old child, and is concerned about the legalities of the election as regards the recent redistricting. And in a letter to George Loper today, Susan Payne said that she had not thought about running for the seat, but that she just cannot make a commitment to running.
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Today’s Progress reports on City Council, the proposed changes in the date of the election, and the fact that 3/5 of Council intends to run for Senate this fall. It turns out that, if a Council seat is vacated, Council is supposed to appoint a replacement rather than hold an election. Councilors David Toscano and Blake Caravati, who are interested in Senator Couric’s former seat, believe that the members of Council should choose a candidate from themselves informally. Councilor Meredith Richards, also interested, doesn’t favor that approach. Amidst all of this, Council members are now saying that it would just be too confusing to move the election from May to November, and that they may put off that decision this time around.
Charlottesville’s annual Virginia Film Festival opens today, and will run through the weekend. With the usual packed schedule and the timing with leaf season (ie, tourists in town for the weekend), this is likely to be the sell-out success that it has been for the past decade. This year’s theme is Masquerades, and consequently includes films like Phantom of the Opera, Some Like it Hot, Tootsie, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
A special election to fill Emily Couric‘s seat for the last two years of her term will be held on December 18th. This is for Emily’s new 25th District, which covers Albemarle and Nelson all the way to the West Virginia border. Potential Democratic candidates include City Council members Blake Caravati, Meredith Richards and David Toscano, plus Susan Payne of Nelson County and Delegate Creigh Deeds of Bath County. Republicans include Kenneth Boyd and Sharon Jones. The story is in today’s Progress.
Electronic Arts’ on-line gaming division, EA.com, has laid off a third of their employees, including nearly everybody here in Charlottesville. Electronic Arts purchased Kesmai a few years ago and ramped things up quickly, gobbling up office space and tech employees left and right. But in the past year or so, fear of layoffs have been looming large, and now it’s finally happened. Good luck, Kesmaites. Reuters has the story.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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